Maharana Pratap Sagar (Pong Dam lake)
Maharana Pratap Sagar, the Pong reservoir, is a Ramsar wetland and bird sanctuary in Kangra, with winter waterfowl and old temples that rise from the water.
Himachal Pradesh⛰ 610 m2 itineraries
Jwalamukhi
Jwalamukhi in Kangra: the temple of the eternal flame, the rock-cut temples at Masrur and the Pong reservoir's birds, with measured drive times from the town.
Itineraries you can copy
All 2 →
Day plan · First visitTemples & heritage
One day from Jwalamukhi — the flame temple and the Pong lake
A one-day Jwalamukhi plan: the temple of the natural flame in the morning, then the Pong reservoir's birds or the Bathu temples. Free, copyable itinerary.
Best Jan–Apr · Nov–Dec
See the plan →
1 night · 2 days · First visitTemples & heritage
Two days around Jwalamukhi — Bagalamukhi, Masrur and the Kangra Fort
A two-day Jwalamukhi plan: the flame temple and Bankhandi on day one, then the rock-cut Masrur temples and the Kangra Fort on day two. Free, copyable itinerary.
Best Jan–Apr · Oct–Dec
See the plan →Jawalamukhi, also written Jwalamukhi, is a temple town at about 610 m in Kangra district, known for the Jwalamukhi Temple, where a flame burns from a fissure in the rock beneath the main shrine. The temple is counted as one of the Shakta pithas, and it is one of the five Shakti pithas in Himachal Pradesh, with Chintpurni, the Bajreshwari temple at Kangra, Chamunda Devi and Naina Devi. From Delhi it is about 457 km by road, where free-flow routing says 6.5 hours and traffic usually adds more. From Chandigarh it is about 178 km, roughly 197 minutes.
The valley around it holds two bigger reasons to stay. The Masrur rock-cut temples, 79 minutes away, are an 8th-century complex carved from a single outcrop and facing the Dhauladhar range. The Maharana Pratap Sagar, 51 minutes away, is a Ramsar wetland where migratory birds winter and where the old Bathu temples rise from the water in the dry months.
A day covers the flame temple and the lake or Masrur; two days do both. See the one-day plan and the two-day plan, the Himachal Shakti Peeth circuit, things to do in Jwalamukhi, when to visit and how to reach Jwalamukhi.
Photos: Dhruvaeng (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Mywik2023 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Neha Sharma (CC BY-SA 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
Places worth the drive
Masrur (Masroor) Rock-Cut Temples, Kangra
The Masrur rock-cut temples, also written Masroor, are an 8th-century complex carved from one outcrop in the Kangra valley, facing the Dhauladhar range.
Jwalamukhi Temple, Jawalamukhi
The Jwalamukhi Temple in Kangra, also written Jwala Ji, is built over a rock fissure where a natural flame burns, and is counted as one of the Shakta pithas.
On the map
Open the Jwalamukhi map →The places a Jwalamukhi day reaches, with the road time from town. Each opens on the map with its plans and pages beside it.
Before you go
All articles →Things to do in Jwalamukhi — 6 stops, and which need a car
Six things to do around Jwalamukhi, from the flame temple and Bankhandi to Pong lake, Chintpurni, Masrur and the Kangra Fort, with measured drive times.
How to reach Jwalamukhi — distances and drive times
How to reach Jwalamukhi by road from Chandigarh, Pathankot, Dharamshala and Shimla, with measured drive times, the Kangra Valley railway and the airport.
The five Shakti Peeths of Himachal — a circuit, with drive times
Himachal's five Shakti Peeths are Jwalamukhi, Kangra, Chamunda Devi, Chintpurni and Naina Devi. How they connect, and the measured drive times between them.
Best time to visit Jwalamukhi — season by season
When to visit Jwalamukhi: winter for the Pong reservoir's birds, spring for the Bathu temples, and why the hot months from April to June are the hardest.
Questions people ask
What is Jwalamukhi known for?
The Jwalamukhi Temple, where a flame burns from a fissure in the rock beneath the main shrine, and which is counted as one of the Shakta pithas. It is one of the five Shakti pithas in Himachal Pradesh. The valley around it also holds the Masrur rock-cut temples and the Pong reservoir.
How far is Jwalamukhi from Chandigarh?
About 178 km by road, roughly 197 minutes by car on our routing. That makes it a long day trip or an easy overnight from Chandigarh, and the usual start for the Kangra valley. The narrow-gauge Kangra Valley railway from Pathankot stops at Jawalamukhi Road, 22 km from the temple.
How many days do you need in Jwalamukhi?
One day covers the temple and either the Pong reservoir or Masrur. Two days do both, with a night in the town. Many visitors treat the temple as a stop on the way to Dharamshala or Palampur, since Dharamshala is 77 minutes away.
Photographs by Wikimedia Commons contributors (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA), resized; each picture is credited on its own page.